Not Broken, Just Hurting
by Lightly Salted Pringles
Summary: If life were a box of chocolates, then Jo decided her life was one of those really cheap Valentine's Day boxes you buy at the gas station filled with toothpaste and car oil. Because from where she was standing, her life was a box of chocolate coated shit.
**First Grey's Anatomy fiction. Yay me. I've been a long time watcher of the show but I haven't really been into writing fanfiction until I realized I had my own version of the story to shove down people's throats. I spent three days trying to find a fiction similar to this and I found a few but I wanted more detail.**

 **VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I was considering making this a multi-chapter fic explaining Jo's violent reaction to Jason's hand grab. Anger issues are a real thing that make it easy to lose control but PTSD is probably a more reasonable explanation for her to go all Nick Norris on his ass. So if this story gets a good response I would consider writing more but I don't want to start another chapter before I get a general sense of what this fandom is like. Also this way if you have thoughts or suggestions I can always incorporate them into my story. Although if anyone suggests and ending like "She's been dead the whole time" "She's his sister" "They're actually twins" or "She's a cyborg" or any other overused story ending. I will cry all over my keyboard, ruin it from water damage, and then no one gets another story. EVER. Also just a heads up I wrote this at 12am all editing done by mwah, and I am notorious for bad punctuation so if you want to point that out too I'll go back and fix it.**

 **SO here we go, first GA fic. Enjoy.**

If life were a box of chocolates, then Jo decided her life was one of those really cheap Valentine's Day boxes you buy at the gas station filled with toothpaste and car oil. Because from where she was standing, her life was a box of chocolate coated shit.

* * *

The screaming was giving her a headache, and if there is one thing Jo Wilson hates. Its headache; right after crappy parents, and even crappier foster parents.

" _Trust you! How the hell am I supposed to trust you!"_

" _Homeless freak!"_

" _Basket case!"_

" _Crazy bitch!"_

 _Thief!"_

" _Liar!"_

The names he had been calling her all day swirling around in head like a tornado of traumatic memories, reminding her of previous boyfriends, of all the men that have abused her, of the monsters she's been with. She just wanted a good man, a safe man. Why was she so bad at finding them?

Somewhere in the third hour of fighting Jo felt her energy seep out of her, she needed a break and Tylenol and an ice pack. Her headache reaching new heights as the steady pounding that had accompanied her all day morphed into a sharp stabbing sensation. _Maybe I can stay with Steph tonight._ She tossed the idea around her head for all of three seconds before Jo decided that anything was better than here. Sleeping in the on call room would be better than this, anything would be better than this. Jo turned to leave not trusting herself to stay any longer. The combination of pain and anger issues wasn't the best mix.

That's when she felt it, his hand firmly grabbing her wrist, pulling her back with an unnecessary amount of force. "Where the hell do you think you're going? We aren't done here!"

Suddenly she wasn't with Jason anymore, her mind taking her back to the last man that spoke to her that way.

* * *

Jo wasn't the type to let herself relax and feel content, but as she sat in her home economics room waiting for her clothes to finish drying while studying her AP Anatomy text book, she couldn't help but feel a sense of peace and excitement. It was her senior year and she had already sent out her college applications and submitted her scholarship essays, her mind drifted off imagining her future as a kick ass doctor, taking names and saving lives. Her teacher had left the window unlocked so she could clean herself up and wash her clothes so her current housing situation, or lack thereof wasn't so obvious to her peers. It was almost three in the morning when she heard the sound of a window shattering outside. Vandalism wasn't uncommon in this area but Jo knew all too well that particular sound of breaking glass. That was the sound of safety glass on a car window being broken with a crowbar, maybe or a baseball bat. Knowing her car was the only one left in the parking lot Jo didn't think twice about jumping out the window and rushing to the aid of her home.

Two men stood around her small beat up car, riffling through her clothes, backpack, and other things with sentimental value, a crowbar laying abandoned on the concrete.

"Hey!" She screamed at the top of her lungs trying to look more intimidating than she felt. "That's my stuff you assholes!" The boys snicker to each other and one drops her possessions in favour of the small girl in front of them. Suddenly Jo's moxie doesn't feel like enough. What was she thinking? She didn't even grab anything to defend herself with, she may not be a stranger to violence but she was pretty sure these guys weren't like the foster parents that used to beat her up to tech her lesson. These guys had come out here in search of trouble and Jo had given them just that.

"Hey, this your shit?" Goon number one holds up as bra he took from her car. "I'm sorry baby, here you can have it back." He held out his hand offering her underwear to her.

Glancing down at herself dressed in old shorts, a t-shirt, and no shoes Jo knew what they were thinking. Her car completely forgotten they fix their eyes on her body, greedily taking in her exposed legs and undressing her with their eyes.

"How about you just drop what isn't yours and leave before I make you." She says in the most commanding voice she can muster.

"You're going to make us?" Goon number two taunts her. "I'd love to see you try." He leans down picking up the lonely crowbar, making his attentions abundantly clear. He wanted her and he wasn't afraid to use force to get it.

Deciding she was officially in way over her head Jo knew the only smart thing to do was leave. Normally her pride kept her from walking away from a fight but these guys were twice her size. She may be prideful but she wasn't stupid, just because she had beat guys before didn't mean she would win this time, besides nothing in that car was worth getting beat up over, or worse, and from the looks on their faces it would probably be or worse if she didn't win. She turns to leave when she feels a hand firmly grabbing her wrist, pulling her back with an unnecessary amount of force into a hard chest.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? We aren't done here." Two arms band around her waist pulling her back. She doesn't know how he managed to get to her so fast but adrenaline kicks in and she starts fighting back

"Get your slimy hands off me you prick!" He drags her back to his friend and her back slams into her car her rage takes over and she blacks out.

* * *

Suddenly back in present day, Jo stumbles away from a screaming Jason. " _Shit. Shit, Shit, Shit!"_. Her mind screaming, her headache gone. What had she done? White noise drowned out the sounds of Jason's yells as she grabbed her hoodie and ran from the house. She needed to go somewhere safe.

Safe? Where was safe? Jo couldn't remember the last time she fully let her guard down. Her feet hit the wet pavement making a sick slapping noise and causing a sharp pain to shoot up her feet to her knees. Ignoring it, she pushed herself further as tears streamed down her face and sobs tore their way from her throat. God, she couldn't believe this. She thought she was finally dating the nice guy. She just wanted a nice guy, a safe guy.

Before her mind caught up with her feet she found herself on Alex's porch. Their night in the hotel at Baileys wedding flooded her mind. That was the last time she truly felt safe. Alex had been right, of course he had. A quick survey of her surroundings told her Alex wasn't home yet. The driveway was empty and all the inside lights were off. She gingerly sat herself down on the porch swing, the emotions of last few hours consuming her. She needed to keep It together she couldn't be a mess when Alex got home, she couldn't fall apart. Not now, depending how her upcoming conversation with Alex went, not ever.

She lets her mind wander to the two guys in the school parking lot all those years ago. She remembered coming out of her blackout to see the two men bleeding and unconscious on the ground. The feel of the crowbar in her hand as she smelt that metal sour smell of fresh blood. She hadn't known what to do then, she hadn't had a safe place to go to and her car didn't actually have gas in it so driving away wasn't an option. That whole experience had been a mess. Her whole life had been a mess. If life were a box of chocolates, then Jo decided her life was one of those really cheap Valentine's Day boxes you buy at the gas station filled with toothpaste and car oil. Because from where she was standing, her life was a box of chocolate coated shit.

The jangle of keys let her know Alex had arrived. Jo didn't look up to greet him though, she was barely keeping it together right now and she repeated to herself "Don't fall apart, don't fall apart, don't fall apart". She heard him lecture her about trying to leave her alone but she couldn't really comprehend the words as she slowly turns her head trying to keep it together

"Can I stay here? Please?"

 **Again, if anyone is interested in this story future chapters may clear up any ambiguity in the chapter for things you want to know more about.**


End file.
